She's My Collar

By: KKM

Disclaimer: I do not own the Gorillaz or any related characters/songs. Gorillaz are © Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.

Last Time:

Noodle let out a sigh of relief now that the room was a tad less hostile and gently tried to help her lover to his feet. "Let me clean him up and I'll tell you both everything," she frowned, rubbing his shoulders a bit as she guided him toward the door. "But you two are to leave him alone. He needs his rest."

"Fine, but we want tha' whole thing," Murdoc interjected, flicking some ashes in her direction before taking another long drag. The cherry turned bright red before he released and let the smoke unfurl slowly making him appear more like a dragon as if to intimidate her. It didn't work in the slightest. She was too used to his tactics by this point.

"Deal," she said simply after they'd struggled to get the door open. She wasn't surprised that they were refusing to help in the slightest. "I'll be right back. Come on, Toochi, let's get you all cleaned up."

They watched them leave the room in stiff silence. In their minds rang the same message - this had better be good.

Chapter 2: Busted and Blue

2D let out a pained groan and winced as the damp cloth made contact with his swollen face. Still, he made no movement to make her stop as he took deep breathes and tried to stay still. It was a miracle that he was even conscious right now. One wrong move and who knew what would happen to him. Noodle had brought him to her room after the fight in hopes that the extra pillows she had on her bed might make him feel more comfortable. While he was sure that it was at least a little more comfortable than his own messy room, he highly doubted that pillows were going to help him at this point.

Noodle frowned as the once white wash cloth became stained with pink. As she washed the crimson from his normally pale face she was able to see just how severe the damage was. Both of his usually already bruised sockets were ringed with a nasty shade of red that seemed to fade into yellow around the edges. If he wasn't careful, it would probably become infected. Considering how bad his eye sight already was, she knew she'd need to help him make sure he cleaned it up properly. Then there were his cheeks which were fast becoming purple and littered with small cuts and scrapes from Russel's numerous gold rings.

She gently touched one of her guitar string calloused fingers to his busted lip and he let out a hiss, jerking away before giving a pained whine as he raised his hands to his throbbing temples. The fast movement had done nothing for his horrible headache. Noodle let out a sigh and tossed the rag away in defeat as she hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry," she muttered, looking anywhere but at him. "You said it wasn't a good time and I should have listened to you. Again."

The admission was barely audible, but the singer heard it all the same. He struggled to open his eyes again and then let out a little hum as he reached out to take her hand in his. It tugged on his heart strings to see her so affected on his behalf. "'S Alright," he slurred a bit, bringing her hand back toward him and ignoring the pain in his fat lip as he tried to gently kiss it. "You didn' know, love."

"But I did!" she gasped as she took her hand away from him and jumped up to pace. Watching this caused another wave of nausea and he opted to close his eyes again hoping it would pass. "If I'd listened to what you said, you wouldn't be in this state! Maybe if we'd waited and planned it out a little better… but surprising them? I knew they were hot-headed. What was I thinking!?"

He stayed silent a moment after she said this. He honestly had no idea what she'd expected. This had went pretty much exactly how he'd thought it would. Hell, if it was the other way around and one of the others had presented this to him the way they just had with no preparation at all he knew he'd have acted the same way. As sweet as people saw him sometimes, he just like the others had always been very protective of her. He wasn't above protecting her dignity at the cost of a scuffle. It was days like this he wished he'd been strong enough to resist her in the beginning. But at the same time he knew in his heart that with her was where he belonged and he loved her too dearly to ever let her go willingly.

Finally after a few moments of silence, he realized he'd drifted off in his thoughts and was vaguely aware that he could hear sniffles at the other side of the room where she was now plopped down on the floor hugging a stuffed panda to her chest as if it was the last thing on the planet. "'S betta' this way," he tried with a sniffle, hoping that another nose bleed wasn't about to come on. "We won' have teh sneak aroun' anymore." A ghost of a smile passed over his features about that. He never really enjoyed that part of their charade. "We'll finally be able teh jus' be us, love."

She peeked over the teddy bear at him with watery eyes and tossed it aside as she crawled back over to the bed. He let out a groan as he forced himself to move back a bit and gestured for her to join him. She carefully did and burrowed against his chest as he wrapped his long spidery arms around her in a comforting embrace. "Stu, it won't be that easy and you know it," she mumbled against him as she tried to relax and enveloped herself into his unique butterscotch scent.

"And maybe it will," he said simply. When she looked up at him incredulously, he chuckled and squeezed her a little tighter. "Haven't killed me yet or barged in, 'ave they?" he pointed out lightly. "Ol' Muds wouldn't 'ave hesitated if he'd really wanted to do me in an' Russ woulda' ripped me a new one for sure! Tha's half the battle innit?"

"I supooooose," she said thoughtfully, wiping her drying cheeks against his messy shirt. "It still won't be easy, though."

"With those two it neva' is," he agreed, resting his cheek against her hair thoughtfully. His hand seemed to automatically run through her silky locks, toying with the individual strands at the end before running through again. "I've 'ad worse though. We'll get through it; we always do." He said with finality. Now that they had opened this can of worms, there was no going back. It was either sink or swim from here on out.

"So, you're not mad?" she said in disbelief as she looked up at him. They'd been through so much of a rollercoaster already through the years, she found this a little hard to believe.

"I'll get over it," he assured her. "But next time, do your poor ol' Stu a fava' and listen, yeah? I don't need anymo' dents than I already gots."

She gave a snort of mirth and gently extracted herself from his warm embrace to sit up. "Maybe," she said honestly. She'd never been that great at holding herself back. No matter how high her IQ was, she'd always been fast to act without thinking of the full consequences of her actions.

"Fine, but at leas' do one thing," he said with a sigh as he readjusted himself against her pillows again. "Tell the truth. All of it. They deserve tha' much. We been lying to 'em a long time, love. If we wan' this teh work, they gotta' know."

"I know," she agreed, though he could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn't exactly ecstatic about it. This might put them in a bad light at times and she was well aware that they'd both played dirty here. "I'll take care of it, Toochi," she promised, watching as he winced again and squeezed his eyes closed. She pursed her lips and took a bottle of pills from her night stand and offered him a glass of water she usually used for during the nights. He gratefully allowed her to place them in his mouth and took a small sip of water before letting out a shaky sigh. "I'll be back soon, get some rest." She demanded before standing to leave.

"Fanks, love," he replied in barely a whisper as he waited for the pills to take effect. He heard her give a hum of acknowledgement before the door quietly clicked behind her. Frowning, he tried to force his mind to relax. He wished she didn't have to do this alone but it was no use. He wasn't in any state to go back down there so instead he allowed himself to drift restlessly into oblivion.

Heading down the stairwell to return to the recording studio, Noodle felt like she heading toward the gallows. She had always been somewhat private about these things and wasn't fond of the idea to share her innermost secrets. She knew they'd both jump her with questions the moment she'd walk in. But this was what she needed to do and she really owed it to her Toochi to clear the waters. She knew he'd harbored an insane amount of guilt from the start. He'd always had a big heart and hated lying to the people that he considered his closest friends and family.

She knew that they would think she'd felt the same. But she hadn't. Noodle had been through a lot in her 26 years and had only let 2D see a small sliver of the inner turmoil it had caused her psyche. Russel and Murdoc had no idea the secrets she harbored from the time she'd been attacked after the Demon Days album to when she'd showed up as their savior on Plastic Beach. 2D knew part of the story and even that she was sure gave the singer nightmares at times. Telling their story required that she remembered how she'd felt back then when they'd all been reunited and it hadn't been all that pleasant.

And the rest… she felt exposed. Naked even.

Before she knew it, she'd reached the studio door and was turning the handle. As expected, her two bandmates were waiting for her with expectant looks on their faces. By this time, Russ had sat down in a chair he'd pulled up at their music writing desk in the front corner of the room. He was sitting with his arms crossed and a look of deep contemplation on his features as if his mind had not stopped moving since she had left the room. Muds was standing a little ways back with a hand on his hip and an air of impatience. Sighing, she closed the door behind her and forced herself to move forward until she was standing awkwardly in front of them.

"How long?" Russel demanded as he suddenly seemed to come out of his trance. His eyes narrowed as if daring her to lie. She frowned and gave him a look that she hoped was as rebellious as she felt in that moment.

"Which time?" she asked in a slow mischievous voice as she purposely baited him in retaliation. The desired effect was almost immediate.

"What the fuck do you mean 'which time'? Damnit, Noodle!" he shouting, standing up abruptly and slamming his fist down against the table in frustration. "I want some fuckin' answers and none of these games an' shit!"

"Now, now Russ," Murdoc purred as he suddenly stepped up and placed himself between them. "We ain't gonna ge' any answers if ya' keep threatin' her li' that," he pointed out, strangely becoming the voice of reason. "An' you girly know betta' than to piss 'im off li' that. Beginnin' ter think yer stallin' for time, you are," when she gave him a surprised look of confirmation he smirked nastily at her and tapped a finger against the top of his head. "Yeh can't fool me, I've been there an' done that, love."

"Kuso, fine." she muttered, looking perturbed that he'd read her so well. She took a deep breath and then sighed before looking at each of them again and frowning. "This was never meant to piss you guys off or anything like that," she said lamely, trying to decide how to move forward with this. Russ relied with an indignant snort causing her to quickly eye him again. He would be the tougher adversary of the two she decided.

"Why don't yeh start from the beginning?" Murdoc supplied helpfully as he pulled up a couple of chairs so they could join Russ at the table. Russ made a move to open his mouth again, but the older man smoothly interrupted him not sparing a single glance in the larger man's direction. "You said you were tha' one who started it," he pointed out, then added under his breath, "No' tha' I'm surprised there."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Russ asked grumpily as he glared at the bass player.

"Well innit obvious, fat arse?" Murdoc laughed, "She obviously takes afta' meeee," he trilled in a proud voice. "Search and destroy. Neva' givin' up on what yer want by any means necessary. All tha' jazz," he said airily with a wave of his hand as he leaned back in his seat exuding arrogance. "I'd like to think I taugh' 'er tha'," he smiled lazily.

He was rewarded when Noodle let out a quiet laugh affectively breaking the stagnant persona she'd been putting on. Russel watched her visibly relax in bewilderment before sending an impressed look toward their 'leader.' It seemed Murdoc had simply been trying to rid them of the tension to make it easier on all of them.

"Well, I don't know about that. But I suppose if I am to take anything away from you, it may as well be one of your more charming attributes," she smiled, playing along. They could all tell it hadn't reached her eyes, but weren't complaining. Her smile soon flattened as she realized they needed to get back to business. "I guess the beginning would make the most sense. But it was way before we actually got together," she admitted to them. When they stayed silent she took it as a sign to continue. "I'd had my eyes on Stu since after we'd came back from Plastic Beach."

"Since Wobble Street?" Murdoc questioned incredulously. He hadn't expected her infatuation to have begun so early. "But wot the hell could 'ave possibly happened there? We was barely there a yea' an' you was a moody lil' mess at the beginnin'."

"I'd been nearly blown up on your damn set, escaped, went to hell and back, got kidnapped, went through hell getting away from those stupid pirate-friends of yours, and returned to find out I'd been replaced by a fucking cyborg. How would you feel?" she hissed, effectively silencing him. The kidnapped part struck out to him as something new, but he chose not to comment. Once he looked properly admonished, she continued. "Yes, Wobble Street is where I began my plan to seduce Toochi," she nodded thoughtfully.

"It all started when…"

A/N: Hopefully I can keep going at this nice pace. I've got a storyboard for this all written up so I won't lose track. Lemme know what you think!